It started out easy enough, a suggestion there, a nudge in the 'right' direction, but AJ never imagined in a million years that it would work this well.
He smiled smugly to himself, sitting on the opposite end of the room watching Nick make out with yet another girl, knowing full well that soon they'd leave to get some 'privacy'. Getting Nick to cheat on Jenna was easy, getting him high and drunk was even easier, the hard part was all up to himself. He had to be the one Jenna came to when their relationship started to unravel, he had to be the only person she could turn to.
He wasn't quite sure how'd he'd get Jenna to find out about Nick and what he was up to when they were apart. He was also fairly certain that Jenna wouldn't take it for very long. When they were together she'd been very adamant about what she would tolerate and what she wouldn't. Cheating and drugs we're on the list, two things he'd pushed Nick into heavily, even though it weighed on his conscience.
But seeing Jenna and Nick together cleared his mind easily enough. In fact it just made his desire to break them up even stronger. It made him want to go to even greater lengths.
Perfectly on cue, Nick and the mystery brunette left, and AJ went downstairs to find Jenna.
Being stuck in Europe was what was working against him. Sure getting Nick to do things was easy, but he had no way of getting anything back to Jenna. They weren't quite friends, and he had to make a strong effort to get her to talk to him. He just wanted to break them up, hopefully before Nick became a total addict or ended up with some disease. He did have some morals left. But luckily for AJ, Jenna had joined them for a week or so, and still he'd managed to get Nick away from her long enough to tempt him with some girl he'd seen in the elevator. It was great, like the heavens above were working with him.
He found Jenna sitting downstairs in the hotel bar, a few people mingling around. No one he really knew. He watched her for a few minutes, and saw the sad look on her face, an obvious reaction to Nick's absence.
"What's wrong Jenny." Aj said, sitting down next to her, giving her a slight nudge with his shoulder.
"Don't call me that."
"How come you can call me Al but I can't call you Jenny?" He asked. Trying to be playful, trying to make her smile.
"When did I call you Al?" She said, shooting him a glare of annoyance.
"Last month, at Brian's party." A look of indifference was on her face.
"C'mon Jenna." He said emphasizing her name. "You know I know you better than anyone. You can talk to me, you can tell me what's wrong."
That's it Alex, just keep calm. Play the good-guy. He thought as he smiled at her with the most sincere smile he could muster.
"Nothing is wrong."
"That's why you're sitting all by yourself, staring at a bunch of strangers."
"I'm not by myself."
"Yeah, but I'm not the one that should be with you am I?" He heard her deep sigh, and watched her head shake slightly.
"I don't know what it is Al. Lately he's been like a completely different person. He's moody, he lies to me, and I never get to go out with "his" friends anymore. It's like he's tucking me away." She confided. "And now, I come all this way to see him and his disappears. He was supposed to meet me here half an hour ago, and he isn't in the hotel room. I don't know what to think."
"Yeah, he has been a little different." AJ said, taking a hold of her hand and giving it the slightest of squeezes.
This was it. The segue he needed.
"Jenny. I didn't want to be the one to bring this up, especially considering how strained things are, but there's no one else I feel comfortable telling. No one else has noticed the change in him, I mean I thought I was crazy...but then you-"
"What is it?" she asked with a furrowed brow, her body leaning more towards him her hand still holding his.
"I think Nick's involved in some bad shit."
"What do you mean?" She said, pulling back slightly.
"I mean I walked in on him at a hotel a couple of weeks ago and I think he was snorting something."
Walked in on, sat next to him while they both did it, same thing. he thought with an internal chuckle.
"What?" She said with a new sound in her voice, he didn't know if it was worry or anger.
"Probably cocaine, I don't really know. They didn't notice me, and I didn't know what to say about it, so I left."
"They?"
"Yeah, Nick and some girl."
'Some girl' was a hot red-head named Elsa, who was just as eager to do a line of coke than she was to do both of them. AJ tried desperately to hold back the smile that kept threatening to erupt on his face. He watched her stare at Nick, who had just entered the room, fresh from a conquering. AJ could see the wheels turning in Jenna's head, he could hear the thoughts that were inevitably coming to her. Questioning Nick's behavior in the past couple of months, questioning Nick's behavior right this very moment.
"Hey." He said in his annoyingly grating voice. "Sorry I'm late, I got stuck in Simon's room talking about his days on the road."
AJ nearly burst out laughing when Nick sniffed and rubbed his nose. He saw Jenna's eyes go wide, and he was sure she was going to start yelling at him, but she held back. Funny thing about it was, the only thing Nick was doing upstairs was that girl, no cocaine, no nothing.
That was perfect Carter, I couldn't have planned that any better.
They left without barely saying a word to him, walking out of the bar and off to wherever it was they had planned to go. Even though AJ's jealous streak flashed wildly when he took ahold of her hand, he knew things were starting to go his way. Jenna was talking to him, and she knew what Nick was up to. Soon she'd realize who was better for her.
A new smile came to AJ's face, and he left the hotel bar in search of the mystery brunette's friend. If he couldn't have Jenna tonight, he'd have someone else.